There'll be high notes a-plenty during the forthcoming season of Opera Gala Plus concerts, for which promoter Barra O Tuama has signed up a plethora of premier division operatic names, including the stylish Italian baritone Marzio Giossi, the delightful Scottish soprano Rosalind Sutherland and - in a fully-fledged concert performance with orchestra and chorus - the dynamic, visceral Argentinian tenor Jose Cura. The season kicks off with the Henry Ford 80th anniversary opera gala at the NCH on Saturday September 27th, when Giossi and Sutherland will be joined by a finalist from this year's Cardiff Singer of the World competition, the Welsh tenor Gwyn Hughes Jones. November will bring together a trio of exciting performers, the young Spanish tenor Ignacio Encinas, the American coloratura soprano Barbara Kilduff and the Bulgarian bass Julain Konstantinov, while the Bord Gais New Year Opera Gala will match the English tenor Edmund Barham with the Polish baritone Marcin Bronikowski and our own Mary Hegarty.
As for Cura, who is currently being hailed as the world's finest - or, depending on who you read, the world's only - dramatic tenor, he will sing at the RDS on Saturday March 14th. The programme has yet to be unveiled but may well feature a selection from Cura's debut recital CD of Puccini arias, to be released on the Erato label later this month.
